Two memories popped into my head while watching Notre Dame hold on to beat Michigan State, 17-13, at Notre Dame Stadium today. One was something Pat Narduzzi said about what offenses will have to do to attack his defense, during one of his first press conferences at MSU.

“You better throw the fade,” he said, “and you better throw it well.”

The other was an ill-advised flea flicker in the 2005 MSU-Michigan game. The Spartans were moving the ball with ease on the Wolverines at the time, but receiver Jerramy Scott pulled up and threw a pick into coverage. It turned out to be a key moment in an MSU overtime loss.

The Notre Dame fades, a couple of which were completed and three more of which resulted in crucial pass-interference calls on the Spartans (there were four total plus a defensive holding), got a lot of the attention after the game. A flea flicker with a similar result and impact on the outcome — R.J. Shelton to Bennie Fowler in coverage, picked and leading directly to Notre Dame’s winning touchdown — also got plenty. Bad calls were involved in both (some of both, a couple of those interference calls appeared to be good ones).

But the worst call may actually have been Mark Dantonio’s decision to go with Andrew Maxwell on the last possession. Connor Cook’s right shoulder had suffered a little stinger, but that had nothing to do with it. Dantonio said he wanted to “change the pace.” Cook said after the game he wished his coaches showed more faith in him.

And though QB coach Brad Salem pulled Cook aside and told him he’s still the starter after the game, the move was unfair to both quarterbacks. Maxwell was put in an impossible situation and responded with three incompletions and a strange decision to run for eight yards on fourth-and-20. Cook took a confidence hit, on a day that saw him do some good things but continue to miss a lot of passes he needs to make.

So here’s where the Spartans stand after a 3-1 nonleague schedule, with a week off before starting the Big Ten on Oct. 5 at Iowa: They have a Rose Bowl defense. They have a subpar offense. And they might be in store for another string of tough, tight losses if that offense doesn’t get fixed.

It should be noted that this is an upgrade from just two weeks ago. The offensive line is run blocking well right now, and Jeremy Langford and Nick Hill are running hard. The passing game still showed more of a pulse today against a real defense than it did in the first two games. No, really, it was way worse against Western Michigan and South Florida. The Youngstown State game was indeed a confidence builder — but there’s still a long way to go.

Cook was off the mark too often and his receivers dropped too many passes, again. He had a couple really nice passes to Macgarrett Kings Jr. on MSU’s lone touchdown drive, including the 12-yard scoring strike to Kings on a timing route. There were a few things to build on from this game. But the final decision could be counterproductive.

Are the coaches committed to Cook? Are they drifting toward the senior? Do they think Tyler O’Connor may provide more accuracy to go with the running threat? Is it too late to bring up Damion Terry again? Will quarterback questions ever end for this team?